This isn't a stage
by Narsha
Summary: She hadn't planned on being reborn. She hadn't planned on being the bastard child of a ninja. She hadn't planned on being trained for war. So when she stumbles on a journal written in english, she understands what she has to do to save the world. She had to save the Uchiha's most reckless idiot from being killed and make him the new Hokage. Self-Insert / AU
1. Rebirth

_Hello, hello,_

 _I just wanted to warn you this is a 6 chapters update. You shouldn't get used to it since the posts probably won't be regular._

 _I hope you enjoy this new story,  
_

 _Narsha_

* * *

Part I: baby steps

Rebirth

She hasn't expected to die. Well she supposed nobody did. She was also conscious that being aware of being dead wasn't really something that one should consider a normal occurrence. And yet here she was thinking about life and death matters.

Well if one would call that a "here". She only knew that everything around her was pitch back and relatively comfortable. Maybe it was how the last journey felt. She had thought nothing about religion and life after death back when she was alive. All that mattered to her were her acting courses, the books she read about almost everything, the band and the different theater stages she lived for. She had lived a life of ink and paper, of music sheets and notes, of the different characters she enacted.

But did it matter now?

And the world shook and shrunk. It was constricting around her. Deformed sounds were coming to her ears but she couldn't place them nor identify them. She felt a ball of stress forming inside of her. The word wouldn't stop moving around her.

Suddenly something ripped out somewhere and there was the sound of running water. Her world constricted around her once more. The thick walls were crushing her! Water was rolling around her, and she was flushed along with it. But where water could go, she couldn't. She was much more material than she had thought she was, bathing in the darkness for so long…

Then she pieced things together and understood what this place was and why she was there.

Life was giving her another chance!

Time seemed really long to her as she was pushed out from her mother's body. She felt so frail and tired, yet she couldn't breathe. In the cold and bright world, she had been reborn, she was going to die. She felt her body constricting around that sole idea of breathing. Such a simple task really.

A pair of gloved hands took her away from the gooey cavity she just went out of. Unable to move with her untrained muscles, it was only instinct that made her shiver in the cold air. Pain spiked as something was cut near her belly, probably her umbilical cord. Right now all she wanted was to breathe and live.

A harsh slap on her back forced her mouth and lungs to open. The darkness that had surrounded her once again disappeared as her chest went up and down. Air. How long did she had not had air inside of her? She heard herself wail in relief. Or was it of fear? Of pain? Her emotions were such a mess!

Sounds, colours, smells, everything was overwhelming. Everything was blurry and the cheers of the medical unit were indistinguishable. Someone wrapped a warm towel around her to get her clean. She was already exhausted by all this agitation, but all these people moving her body around prevented her to get sleep.

A male face was presented to her. It was a chubby face covered of dirt and dust. It was a was a wonder to her how such a dirty person had been authorized in the hospital, had he been her father. He blurted some sounds she didn't understand. Probably something like "hello [insert name here]". How cliché was it?

As she did nothing but wail and closed her eyes, someone put her down on a warm place. A hand went on her back, and she felt how protected she was. She opened her eyes briefly to her mother's face, her new mother that is. She was frail and fragile, and this person was so gentle to her. A bond was formed with this unknown woman at that precise moment.

At that moment, she said her last goodbyes to France for the new life she was living.


	2. First month

First month

She would not have much memories of her first month in this new life. She got tired easily, and her senses weren't developed enough. After nine months living in a womb, being in the outside world again was highly deranging. She slept through the days, merely waking up to eat or look a bit around. She had no muscles in her body. She felt like a heavy blob of butter.

Most of the time she would call for her mother when she wasn't there. She was so weak, and she was so frail. She needed someone she knew near her. Even though she didn't get when people were talking to her. Warmth and soft voices were enough for her.

Sleeping, eating and shitting. That was the only things she cared of, because she wasn't adapted to this world. And there was this itchy feeling that was fluctuating around her. There was always a ticklish feeling on her skin she had attributed to the air, but it wasn't that. The ticklish became an itch when her father came home, when it didn't change when it was mother. She couldn't help but cry when her father was holding her. It was unbearable.

She remembered people coming to see her. She couldn't see their faces, but she could feel the itch! Myriads of needs were tearing her body apart. Her cries weren't soft wails anymore, but howls of pain. Fate had a cruel sense of humour, sending her to another life to die. The worst part went when someone lit her world with this green light under which she squirmed in pain.

She remembered passing out several times during this incident. After that she was probably back at her home, though she was still unable to see further than twenty centimetres on average. Her father never came back after a while, and she was relieved. Though it made her sad somehow: did that mean she would spend her whole life around her mother, in this room, unable to meet with anyone else?

What did every of this meant? Why was she hurt by her father and not by her mother? What was the tickle she felt in the air? What did it mean? She couldn't understand what it meant.

At least there was her mother. She had finally understood her own name was Honoka. It was a strange name to her who had lived in an occidental world. It sounded Asiatic to her, but she doubted she could call it this way here. To her own knowledge she could be anywhere in space or time. Well some recent era given that she slept in cotton and woollen sheets and her toys were partially in plastic.

Honoka had difficulties to show her mother her different expressions She couldn't produce any other sounds than wails and cries with that throat of hers. The only other gurgles she had managed to produce were totally out of her control. The best she could do was pulling on the corners of her mouth in what she thought of what a smile should resemble. She wished she had a mirror to train her facial expressions.

She couldn't lift her arms to ask for a hug, and her fists remained balled. She couldn't seize objects, just brushing them with the back of her hands. It was like she had forgotten how to do such simple things. She couldn't train her muscles if she couldn't control them a bit! I could grip things by reflex like the finger of my mother or the handle of the wooden spoon. But nothing could be done voluntarily. It was unnerving.


	3. Second month

Second month

Over the time it gotten easier to produce different sounds and expressions to be understood by her mother. She liked this mother of hers. Deep down inside she couldn't consider as her real mother, but the feeling of being loved by what she was, without discrimination was something she hadn't been used to in her previous life. She liked being cuddled by this woman. She took great care of her.

She could see a bit further, and distinguish a bit more than blurry colours. Her eyes would instinctively follow the moves of objects near her. She had now a greater liberty of moves with her arms, but only when on the back. On the belly she had no idea how to hold her head up more than a few seconds. It was a real hassle. She was immobilized, waving arms and legs everywhere and tiring herself for nothing. Well at least she had gotten better with gripping things with both her arms and clutching her to herself.

Some people came to see her, and she identified them as the friends of her mother. They didn't itch either, so it was fine to her. Granted, she didn't felt them like she felt her mother. They seemed _thin_ to her, almost non-existent. Her father had come back as well several times, but she would always start crying in pain whenever he was too close. So he would call her name from afar, saying things she couldn't get. He sounded sad, that man, and she understood him. She understood how being rejected by your own family felt, and she tried to steel herself. One day, maybe, she would be able to see her father closer. For now, the only thing she became better at was guessing when he was getting closer to her, and anticipating the pain with the increasing itches.

She would try to get him close to her, cooing of joy, trying to wave her feeble hands at him. Sucking on her thumb, clenching her gums, she would look at him and he would get close. He would say reassuring things, but in the end she couldn't stand his presence.

There was a guy who came once she had managed to handle. She shouldn't have remembered, but this one encounter made her mother and father angry at each other. Not the doctor guy with his long haired hair, but another girl. Mother was talking sharply with him, and he had come with long strides to her. It had hurt at first, like needles piercing each cell of her body. But then it was like his presence had diminished! The piercing howl she had produced had ended up with a harsh cough until the man was right in front of her. He had held her to his face, and glared at her. Never had she liked people glaring at her, even in her previous life. So she had given him a cold look in return, and she swore she almost saw the faintest grin tugging one of his lips. Then he put he down coldly and exited the room, said a word to her mother and was gone. Honoka didn't know what transpired of this meeting but after that, her father's presence lowered as well and he could finally take her in his arms.

Not to say that she was utterly disappointed with him. Her father wasn't ugly or anything but he wasn't beautiful. He was this chubby bearded man with everything round and dull about him. His face was round and dull, his eyes were round and dull, even the dark marks under his eyes were dull… She had waited all this time for this? She couldn't believe it! Her mother was a blonde woman with a thin frame and beautiful wavy hair curling around her face. she could tell she was very beautiful with her wide green eyes and her angelic face. She couldn't tell how her father managed to get such a woman at his side. Nothing was interesting about him. And he hadn't been the one to guess how to approach her.

The other man who had carried her had had an interesting face, like a bird of prey. His squinted grey eyes had looked sharply at her. It had been the most interesting thing that had happened to her in days!

Honoka was starting to resent this new life a bit. She was getting bored and annoyed that she couldn't do anything! Her body wasn't strong enough, and she had the hardest time trying to control her moves! Yet everyone praised her effort with cheers. When would all these woman coming to see her mother, and these kids invading her house when her mother wasn't available always cheering when she did anything. She felt like the messiah while doing nothing.

And there was also this feeling of awkwardness. Granted that reincarnation wasn't given to everyone, but if people were reincarnated, why did everyone seemed so impressed with her development? If everyone was reincarnated at one point, there was surely other "genius" people like her. Because if this place regrouped all the people going in their next life, people should be expecting more of her, right? So all these cheers might mean she was one of the rare people reincarnated among the whole people dying every day. They said the Earth population was getting bigger and bigger, like they were about 7 billion people when she was gone, and scientists had said they should be 10 billion people in thirty years or so. Did that mean there were new "souls" manufactured everyday, to throw in the mix?

Plus, it wasn't fully logical because she was in a place where everything was a bit different from her previous life. There was modern stuff like radio or plastic objects, but also old stuff in wood, but she couldn't tell what was new and what was old: this new culture seemed a bit too off for her. This culture felt like a mix between Asia (the clothes, the food, the language) and America (the little bits of English here and there in their expressions, the architecture maybe). Did it mean she had landed in a parallel world or something?

And to get back on this reincarnation thing. Let's imagine that there is like 6 million people dying on Earth every day. The more frequent causes of death overall might be birth complication, young children dying, the lack of medical care in the less developed countries, cardiac or brain diseases for the old people, war, pollution, car accidents… So is there some sort of recycling system which quantifies if someone is worthy or not? There were several religions in her old world, and only looking at the most important ones like Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism and so on, each one of them had different rules, and most of them didn't speak of reincarnation much. Plus, if people had been reincarnated, apart from Jesus, they should have raised their voices and explained the whole rebirth thing in afterlife.

Which means she had landed in a very weird place, which didn't look like purgatory, and where people didn't expect reincarnated people either. So why here, and why her? How had she been chosen? Did she have some sort of holy mission or something? Was there people above expecting her to do something? She had never been someone exceptional in her previous life, and she couldn't remember how she had died.

Maybe not remembering was the key. Maybe a lot of people were reincarnated but forgot their previous life (or lives). But why didn't she? Or has it already begun, but she didn't see it? Honoka couldn't tell. They said most people didn't see themselves decaying when they were mentally ill, but if she had to rely on the people around her… They didn't know who she had been before, nor what she had been able to do! All they could do was praising the great baby she was! And that started to seriously get on her nerves.

The only thing she knew is that being in here itched and hurt more than it should, that her new life sucked, and that she couldn't understand one word of what was told to her! Seriously when she had been young she had been taught English and Spanish in school. She spoke and read her mother tongue and the two other languages fairly well, but this? She couldn't even make heads and tails of the sentences!


	4. Third month

Third month

She could finally manage the simple facial expressions! Like laughing and frowning mostly, but she could! Her father regularly tried to make her laugh when he was home, and she would do him the favour. He might not be the best man on this world, but he was still the one who gave birth to the kid she was. She would need a father for the time being, right?

So she would try to handle a "conversation" with him or her mother whenever she could. Well it wasn't syllables at all, more like little coos and gurgles, but it was already something. She tried to make some vowels, but it was impossible!

Her hands remained mostly closed, but she had this gripping reflex under control. She could choose whenever she would take an object or not, but hadn't enough control on it yet. I could still try to reach them with my arms, though. She tried some old stretching exercises she used by the time she played the guitar and was quite confident she'll be able to wiggle her toes in no time. People sometimes eyed her strangely but she didn't care. After all she was just a baby, wasn't she?

She could also turn my head left and right without moving all her body: it was less tiring. Which allowed her to reach stuff with both arms or hitting them. Maybe she should try to use the mobile above her head like a punching ball when she gets bored. It should give interesting reactions from people around, or at least more interesting than clapping hands.

The better mobility she had with her arms allowed her to explore her body a bit more. She couldn't hold her head enough to look at her body parts, but she could feel them under her fingers. She hadn't remembered being able to suck on her toes when she had been an adult for example! Yeah, right, this kind of prowess wasn't really useful in society, but it was really impressive!

Boredom was really getting to her, wasn't it? She had even started to count the paint marks on the ceiling. One of the paint stroked almost made one of the defects forming France, missing a big chunk of Provence though.

She could hold her head better when sitting or when she was flat on her belly, so it was good. Now she should try to craws, or at least roll out of her park. Laying down with nothing to do… When will it stop? It wasn't purgatory anymore, it was a living hell!

Well at least she had started to appreciate the faces of the people caring for her. Apart from her mother and father she regularly saw, there was this trio of pre-teens looking after her with a brown haired woman sitting on the corner of the room from time to time. Two boys, and one girl composed this little team. She didn't think much of them, but they tried to do their best with her She wondered who could pay four people to babysit one baby, but somehow it was done. She had figured out her father and mother both had lots of work, and soon after she had rested enough, her mother had gone back to her work.

The most interesting of the three was a brown-haired boy with spikey hair. He was good with her, but also he tried to teach her things. It was like he understood her thirst of knowledge and fed it. It was just little songs and games when you had to clap your hands at a precise moment, something she hadn't the locomotion required for yet, but she could gurgle her approval at the times she was needed to. He had a lovely voice, that boy, and she wondered why he was always covered with scratches and bruises. His friends were as well, but she never got to see them close much. They preferred paying their violent games in the garden.

During one of their games, she had felt the itches again, which had made her really uncomfortable. Enough to made tears roll down her face, but not enough to make her bend in pain. She didn't know who gave the word, but after this incident, the kids had never done it anymore. The itches that is. They were glaring a lot at her by the way. As if it had been her fault!

Honoka still couldn't understand how it happened at all, these itches inside her body. She remembered being taken to several physicians, and most of the tests had involved shining green lights, violent itches and a great deal of prodding. No one seemed to had found the solution. Well, at least, since the frowning one had come this one time, they had decided to stop with all the burning green light and all. Which was a plus.

To her knowledge, green was supposed to be a good colour. Well except for the Green Goblin, that guy had given her nightmares when she had been a kid. Anyway, green was supposed to be good, but here it was bad. Not to say this light seemed to come from the doctor's _hands_! In video games, this sort of magic was the healer's magic (no no no, she hadn't fallen in a place where magic was possible, this was impossible!). So why was it hurting her so much?

She would smile to the boy as much as she would smile for her parents. And she had managed to understand all their names. Her mother was Akisa, and his father was Torifu, though she had yet to learn their family name, her family name! And the kind boy caring for her was called Nawaki.


	5. Fourth month

Fourth month

Frustration had reached another level within her. But she knew she could whimper, or wail, or cry: nobody could ease her boredom. She wanted to learn so desperately. Language was getting easier to her, and she started getting the subject of their conversations. But it wasn't enough, she wanted more of them, more of Nawaki's nursery rhythms. She was tired of _Kira Kira Boshi_ , which was apparently this country's version of _Twinkle Twinkle little star_ and _Aka Tombo_ which was about a red dragonfly if shecould rely on the boy's doodles. He seemed to sing the last one because they were in Autumn. Good to know the season worked the same here.

It was getting cold actually, so her mother had wrapped several pieces of clothing around me so she wouldn't get cold. The fabric was rough against her baby skin, giving her serious rashes. After a few days of this treatment, and both her parents trying to understand what was causing me all this skin affection, the only thing she could try to grab was the guilty blanket and showing it to them and put her tiny hand on the concerned bodypart. At one point, a light of understanding shone into my father's eyes.

He told her something with a soft voice. She couldn't figure out his tone. Was it cautious or astonished? Seeing that she didn't answer what he was saying, he blinked and repeated slowly, separating all the words neatly. Unfortunately, she didn't figure out what he was saying, apart that her name had been thrown into the mix. It seemed like a question, but she couldn't understand it. She deadpanned, which seem to amuse her father greatly.

Then he called her mother for help, apparently telling her about Honoka's finding between the rash and the blanket. Suki came near the bed, and called the baby's name. Honoka blinked, then understood they wouldn't understand nor leave if she didn't do her part again. She curled one palm in the blanket, quite unable to pinch it with the first three fingers, and put her other hand on one of the rash, curving her fingers into a claw-shaped form to show it was itching.

She sighed when Suki seemed to understand. She started saying stuff too fast with too much syllables inside for her to understand. Well the gist of it was surely: "you're so smart my girl, I love you!", or something akin.

Right after that her father gave her another blanket which wasn't hurting her anymore, and she could finally sleep and move around freely.

Something shifted in their home the next days. Her parents would put objects in front of her, mostly big objects, and say a word. She would nod when she understood it. Unfortunately, her mouth was still untrain at this point. She had managed to ease the wax-like smile into a charming grin and cute giggles which made her mother proud in society (what was with all these people caressing her face and trying to make her laugh anyway?). But speaking was impossible. Oh, she could modulate her voice, making it soft or loud, and imitate some sounds, but just the vowels _a_ and _e_. It was quite limited; don't you think? She was quite sure a language with bubbles and farting noises could be invented.

So, both her parents, and of course the smart Nawaki had decided to teach her words, even though she couldn't actually repeat them yet. Even Nawaki's friends and the adult with them had given a try and were amused and/or impressed by her feat.

The "game" had started like this. They had given her a set of coloured cubes at one point, and she had thought of making her teeth on them when they would be close to piercing her gums. There was a red one, a blue one, a green one and a yellow one. Well, after a few trials, she was able to show the right colour. _Akai_ was "red", _aoi_ meant "blue", _ki_ was yellow and _midori_ was "green". Right and _rippou_ might quite be "cube", and _doko_ must have meant "where". So when she was hearing the question: "Honoka, where is the [insert colour here] cube?", she would show it with her hand. Which lead to learn _migi_ and _hidari_ , "right" and "left".

Although she felt like a show dog who was taught tricks, she was learning, and that was the most important. Boredom was being over.

She couldn't move from her spot yet. I could roll from the back to the belly and lift herself up a few minutes on her forearms before falling back in the covers. She was getting to the point where she could move. The best she could do at the moment was rolling on the side and almost falling from the bed. It had given Nawaki quite a fright, actually. He was so innocent she took a lot of pleasure in tormenting the boy.

Right and she could also wiggle arms and legs in the air separately when she was on the back, and when she was on her belly. What an impressive feat! She wanted to get away from this room so much…

Actually she was quite sure she was faring better than a normal baby because she had the mentality to train.

The objects for example: before she could only curl her palm around one and hit it on everything around. The only way to take it so her mouth was to seize it with both hands and bring it to her. But now she could turn her wrists and do that one handed. IT seemed like nothing, but little gestures such as this one require a finesse she had long forgotten. It seems so easy, so instinctive when you're an adult, when in reality it's a very hard feat to accomplish.

Same thing about moving around. She hadn't the muscles yet to hold her body, but she had the discipline of an adult and she would regularly get on her forearms and knees and try moving around. At one point she'll be able to crawl, she was quite sure of it.

Speaking of training, she was wondering what the kids were doing in the garden. They would always take turns to watch her, and she knew she tried to remain mostly awake when it was Nawaki's turn, leaving the feeding, cleaning and pooping to the other ungrateful and underserving brats. Well less undeserving now that they were trying to get her to do new interesting things as well. But between Nawaki, Haruka and Kazehaya, she preferred the first boy. Everyone could play favourites, right?

Anyway, she had managed to get them to take a look at the garden when they were in it, lifting her arms to them to get carried where she wanted.

Only to see the kids fighting one another in the garden!

What the… Were they insane! And the lady who was just looking at them, giving some comments and watching them fight! What was this place! You take some kids, put them some sports clothes and protections and let them hit one another? What were these people thinking! They didn't even seem shocked to fight each other, a bit amused maybe. To her point of view, it looked like an assignment more than a real way to have an argument.

Where had she been reborn?

She had decided to watch them fight again and again. They had technique, she noted. And they were learning a lot. Kick, block, fist, block, jump… They were even fighting with blades and everything. They were training these kids to fight, honing them like weapons. For what purpose? She had so many questions and no answers.

And if they were trained for battle as they were 10 or 11, will she be as well?


	6. Fith month

Fifth month

She could fully sit on her own! And she could maintain the position! Even better, she could sustain her own weight on her legs when someone was holding her. It was Nawaki's girl friend who tried that on her one day. The look of pleasure in the boy's eyes became utter despair when he understood how much of a nightmare she ought to become.

She quite hoped someone would find her this toy where the body of the baby is encased in a plastic vehicle with four wheels to get around neatly and bump on things. But either it had not been invented where she had been, or they thought she couldn't handle it yet. They might have been right about that last statement.

About language, she could say stuff like _dadada_ (or was it _bababa_?), or it's variation with the _e_ vowel. But the best thing she had managed was to sing along with Nawaki. She had quite liked singing and doing music in her previous life, never able to make a band, always imitating the existing music pieces. At least she could try for something better in this life.

Starting with the singing, she had managed to produce quite a good imitation of the new song Nawaki had taught her. They were still in autumn, so he had decided for a song with the same thematic. It was one with a simple melody called _Donguri Korokoro_. To put it in a nutshell, it was the story of an acorn falling into a pond. He would meet fishes and have fun with them. But in the end, he wants to go back to its branch but his new friends can't do anything. Quite a bittersweet end for this song…

Like always, Nawaki had decided to explain the story to me with illustrations. His doodles were horrid. He had tried this sort of round-shapes for the end of the fishtails. Maybe it was how they really looked like in reality, but here it just seem to her that quite an amount of penis-shaped fishes had decided for a bath in the pond.

But in the end, she had managed to imitate the melody with the limitation of sounds and syllables at her disposal. She had been quite proud of herself in that regard. And so had been Nawaki. He seemed like a peaceful one to her. Full of joy and creativity, and quite enthusiastic at the opportunity to fight one of his friends, but calm enough to her.

Well that is what she thought until he actually vomited a wall of rock and almost made her faint. Yes. Nawaki actually threw up the equivalent of twice his weight in rocks as Kazakaya and Haruka had cornered him in the last fight they had. Suddenly I had seen the outcome of their fight: Nawaki would lose at 2 versus 1, but he would have thought well. But instead of forfeiting or even backing up, he had lifted his hands to his chest and made hand signs. At the same time his chest had filled with air, I had felt Nawaki's presence growing, and my body had started to itch.

Not all of a sudden, it was like this physical aura coming out of the boy's guts reaching me. As if I had been always aware of everyone and everything's presence around me, but without hearing, or seeing or touching them. Some sort of esoteric sixth sense.

And suddenly a wave of energy reached me, and I saw black dots crawling in my vision. Nawaki vomited a wall of rock, effectively blocking the kicks aimed at him. Nawaki's presence came to her like waves rolling on the shore, violent and uncontrollable. She felt like drowning far away at sea, each wave sending pricks of pain in her body. She heard someone shrill in pain and someone called her name. Everyone else angrily called Nawaki's name.

Then someone asked if she was all right ( _daijoubudesuka_?). She felt the pain recess almost as soon as it had come to her, with the sound of rock crumbling to the ground. Stones rolled on the grass with a soft noise and she was prodded again. The older woman was checking her temperature and her pulse, muttering things in her language Honoka didn't get.

She was asked if she was all right again, and she nodded. Then they asked another question she couldn't give the answer to. She fluttered her eyes open to the voice of Nawaki. He had been asking this question with quite a worried tone. So she tried to say everything was fine, but the _daijoubu_ never rolled on her tongue. But her gibberish seemed closed enough to the original word for him to sigh in relief, so the question might have well been something akin to the _daijoubudesuka_ asked earlier on.

After that incident, Nawaki was made to sit on the floorboard with a weight on his knees. Quite a harsh punishment. But it wasn't over, because it went on even after the other brats were send back to their respective homes. When Torifu and Suki made it home, not at the same time, the teacher had stayed to explain what happened. Nawaki seemed guilty, and even though he had been the cause of my pain, I had this nagging impression that his action had been a reflex. Which meant using this magic (I still couldn't believe that, but it seemed so real) was natural to them. It explained why her father hadn't been able to approach her until he diminished his energy, why the _healing spells_ had gone wrong with her, and why Nawaki's defense had made her feel so wrong.

But as they were all screaming, and her father looked quite angry at them, she tried her gibberish again. Something like _Honoka daijoubu_ since she hadn't had the faintest idea how to form sentences yet. Everyone looked at her as she was perched on her high chair, and she tried again, distinctively forming the syllables with her soft mouth. Her muscles were so weak she couldn't form the sounds correctly, but it would do.

Right, now that she had their full attention, she had an idea. Her father had gotten close by diminishing his aura, or whatever it was. Nawaki had never changed his, only to concentrate to make his attack. But this time, even if it had hurt, she hadn't fainted. Which meant that either she was getting pain resistance, or she was getting used to this energy. It meant that in either cases, if she could get used to it, by adjusting the amount, she could get better and better at handling it. She should be the one doing the efforts, not them! People around were always too cautious about her, but how about they let her live a little?

Having a goal was good, but really she would need the language to communicate fully this concept to these people. So it was a long a complicated evening where she would hit herself with one hand and show her fingers like she was rating the pain on a scale from 1 to 10. Then she would hit herself again and lower the scale. But whenever they would try to ask for precisions, she wouldn't understand them. If she could at least say the words for "pain" or "time" it would have been easier.

She was brooding when they put her to bed with an apologetic smile, dismissing her acting for baby talk.


	7. Sixth month

Sixth month

People became even more cautious around her after the incident with Nawaki. No energy stuff at all. She wondered several times if she hadn't dreamt this accident in the first place.

Learning useful stuff and training her body was getting boring. She was getting better at it, retaining every bit of flexibility her young body allowed. With help she could get to the sitting position, pulling on her arms. She could sit without support behind her back for a few minutes.

She could move around better. Nawaki still had a great amount of confidence in her, because the next days he would put her in a new place with cushions delimitating the place. Once she had inspected the perimeter, he would open a passage towards the depth of the house and she would follow his lead. It was like a cushion-lined road made for her. When she would get tired, she would fall on her butt and yawn. When she would get hungry, she would pat her tummy and produce a poor imitation of the "I'm hungry" he had taught her.

She couldn't move forward well though, and pushing her body backwards with arms and legs was easier, but still! In a short amount of time she would succeed in getting everything into motion.

But what for? She would learn the language and move her body well in the end. She would eventually learn how to fight, just like Nawaki's teacher or Haruka did. But what was the purpose of all this. What was the purpose of all this fighting? And what was the point of her being there, reborn from another place, another time? This was definitely not her world with this pseudo-Asian culture and people doing magic.

Maybe this was the cause of her illness. She wasn't from here. Therefore, she couldn't handle this magic well. Her body wasn't accustomed to it. But it was weird. She _was_ reborn, and whatever happened for her to be pulled inside that baby's body, said baby had been conceived by the people in this world. So why was she affected by this magic, why was she resenting it so much?

And if it was _because_ she wasn't part from this world? Maybe her body was, but her spirit wasn't! In video games, magicians and wizard classes had always been people with a high intelligence. Not that she was too intelligent herself, but depending on the game, magic was something that required intelligence or wisdom to be correctly executed, but also related to souls and Spiritism. If she was right, that would mean the problem with her sensitivity was with her _mind_ and not her _body_. Which was logic given that her _mind_ was still intact from her previous life.

Like for everything, she couldn't remember _everything_. But she remembered most of the stuff she had learned like foreign languages, mathematics, basic sciences, acting courses… So, she was a singularity in here, and it could explain both her sensitivity to the _magic_ they were using in this world, and the fact why people were at loss about how to handle her.

Now, about this sensitivity thing, she had taken the problem as a question of pain or _magic_ tolerance of her body cells. But if the problem was her _mind_ what did it take to make the pain go away? Understanding? Belief? Trust? She couldn't quite tell. In her previous life, everything was done by hand, or with the help of technology. Everything worked some way, and it should be the same here. They _did_ have electricity, but they also had energy coming from _within_ , energy that could help making _spells_.

And they were having kids learn how to fight physically and magically.

Although it could seem logic to them, it bugged her. She hadn't lived in a world at peace. There were forms of war, but far away from her home. People fought differently in her own world. They used to send soldiers to war and the rest of the country would manufacture weapons for them. When she had still been alive, people were exploding themselves in the name of religious beliefs. In here there seemed to be no guns or automated weapons as it seemed: just fists and weapons. In such a world, why wouldn't everyone learn to fight from a young age to be battle-ready?

And how and why did she found herself into this? She couldn't tell. She didn't remember coming here in the first place. There had been no trigger. She couldn't remember her last days on Earth either, just darkness surrounding her and then she was being birthed. She could remember what she used to do in her everyday life. She had planned to study again, get a degree so she would have something to fall back on, had her popularity decreased.

She hadn't been a pretty girl before, but she had the charisma to make-up for it. The band and theatre stages had done that to her. She had long wondered what would have happened if she hadn't been this tiny YouTube star at the time. Her channel was a cultural one, so she had to read about many subjects to stay accurate about what she talked. But it had been her other channels that had raised her fame. Music and acting before her tiny camera made her come on the big stage.

She hadn't been that known and had never been pretty, but she acted like she was nonetheless. All she had needed was to observe people and adapt herself to them. Being herself had never been her top priority, especially considering what people used to say about her. They had badmouthed her differently when she had become a little bit famous, but the badmouthing had stayed.

She had like these scars on the face and arms, the ugly kind. It had been an accident, a stupid one. She had been a silly kid at the time, trying to cook herself hot chocolate when her parents hadn't been home. She had done her mix in a glass bowl and directly put it on the cooker ring. The bowl had heated from the bottom, and the dilatation difference had made it explode. Glass shards had flown everywhere. She had had the reflex to protect her eyes, but her tiny hands could only do so much. The traces of her silliness had followed her whole life.

They hadn't been so wide when she had grown up, and people had stopped at it too much. Plus, she had learned how to craftily disguise them under foundation, but there had always been faint traces of it on her face, her behaviour. She hadn't been the kind to put make-up on her arms either, so whenever she took off her fingerless gloves or rolled up her sleeves, in the summer or the heat of the spots she would always fear people would laugh at her or look away.

Her life had quite been the restless one, but it had only been about fame and accepting herself for who she had been. She hadn't been pretty, and she hadn't had the best personality either. Observation was such a fine skill, leading to manipulation. She played her part, and she had dominated all her roles, made-up all sorts of complicated layers to steel her frail heart from the world.

For what? What did she achieve in the end? Maybe she could have done something better, something greater in the long run. But right now, she was just a baby who could only blabber tiny syllables that no one could understand!

She wanted to grow up, no get pampered up by these adults who understood nothing! She may be trapped in this baby's body, but she was getting sick of it! Sure, she could guess the opportunities this position could give her, the innocent role she could fill. But how would you manipulate someone if you couldn't get what they said, and if you couldn't reply to them.

Being the cute little baby didn't please her enough. She wanted more of this new life. She had _seen_ her reflexion in the mirror. She was the splitting image of her mother, in a more chubby and curvy way since her father made her stuff her mouth whenever she wanted. She had these curls of nice chestnut hair all around her face, a lighter brown than her father, and bright green eyes. She was very cute like the perfect baby should been.

In front of the mirror, she would discreetly practices smiles and other facial expressions which seemed very cute to her. She would taste them on her relatives, cooing and smiling at them. The steel-faced teacher of the three kids had almost swooned earlier on, but had briefly hid it to her students. She had glared at Honoka's amused eyes afterwards.

Oh, yes, Honoka could picture herself gaining quite a bit of power with her face in the future. With the right words, she might manage to curl people around her finger. Popularity might be needed in the future if she thought this through. For example, she could get a secure position away from the fights. All she would need afterwards would be not to get too hard feelings for all these people send to dangerous paths while she will stay within secure wards.

She wouldn't want to die stupidly after being given the opportunity to live this other life.

* * *

 _Hello :)  
_

 _I personnaly thank everyone who thought of reviewing, favouriting or following this story._

 _Given my school and work I don't have much time to write so it's always pleasant to have my work commented by you._

 _So don't hesitate asking me questions by MP or review ;) (plus it won't hurt the rating of this story on FF so yeah i'll admit I'm a bit interested that way also)_

 _As for the questions I received already, i'll answer here :_

 ** _Does Honoka knows the Naruto-verse?_ **_Nope! She has no clue where she has fallen so you'll know some stuff pretty much before she does !  
_

 **How old is Honoka compared to the other members of the series?** _Honoka is 2-3 years older than Kakashi's generation, and 6-7 years younger than Minato's generation which make her unlikely to enter their teams. I won't make her into Rin's replacement._

 ** _How AU will this story go?_** _I plan to have Nawaki live through the wars and become the Yondaime in Minato's place actually. As for the other events, they will mostly be Canon, which mean I'll respect the teams that have been made already and will only add my characters into the mix. It will require Honoka to understand that the story (Fate) of this world has already been written to wonder whether it's good or not to change the future events.  
_

 ** _So there won't be an ObitoxRin since it's a ObitoxOC?_** _Maybe, maybe not? Since Hononka isn't from their generation, she can't be in their team. Plus, she's only a baby for now, so I think pairings are irrelevant for now. Furthermore, Honoka will be like thirty-ish in her head, so it won't go well with Obito's childlish personality of the beginning of the manga, especially if she is considered as a "genius".  
_

 _That's all folks! See you next time!_


	8. Seventh to ninth month

_Hello everyone!_

 _Sorry for going hiatus so long! My school and my work are actually killing me, so... For those who are iterested in what I was actually doing in that time, I'll leave a note in the bottom of the chapter to talk briefly about it._

 _I have a fuck ton of stories in my head, and no time to write about it. I'm considering using this fiction to experiment with the Microsoft Word app on my phone and see if I can write little chapters when I'm in public transports (I have like 2 to 3 hours of train every weekday to go from my place to work/school)._

 _I hope you enjoy this little chapter!_

 _See ya!_

* * *

Seventh to ninth month

Well, she couldn't do much already in terms of making a useful network, but she could make the people she already knew to behave like she wanted to. Haruka and Kazehaya were good fetchers every time she _accidentally_ made objects fall from where she was. She was quite sure they were doing it only for the smiles and laugh she would give them afterwards. They were so easy to satisfy, these kids. One day she would manage to get to the next stage.

Which was to have them demonstrate their magic once again!

She had first thought she could work on Nawaki. Though for a peace lover, he was harder to control though. He really easily picked on what she wanted, but took his sweet time to get things done! That kid! Or maybe he liked to make her pout? She had worked on the loveliest pout just for him. He'd like to pinch her cheeks, grinning like the idiot he was. It was frustrating her, and he seemed to guess fairly well when she was hiding her frustration. This kid was smart and observant; he would go far! She hoped he wouldn't go and kill himself for no reason.

But she was quite sure that if they couldn't train their magic, these kids would soon be gone! Autumn had passed and they were unable to practice because of her. And she was half right: they didn't exactly go away. She was the one who went elsewhere. She had expected to see new faces and wasn't disappointed: her father finally introduced her to his family: the Akimichi clan.

Some of these people had come before, but since she had been too sensible to their magic. She had been unable to properly meet them. So her father decided to show her to the prominent members of his family when he deemed her healthy enough. The Akimichi were quite a big family, and it explained why she had had to wear all these layers of fine clothes around her body to meet them. Her mother had really had a hard time making them wear these seven robes. It was robes, there was no other term to name them, seven robes for a baby.

Who could be rich enough to dress up their baby like this? She had wondered. Did her parents have that much of money? They too had worn several layers of clothes around them, accentuating the chubbiness of her father and hiding the curves of her mother. Honoka lived in a tiny house with her mother, and not inside the main family like the others had. It seemed to be linked with her mother's standing, but Honoka was too small to ask questions and no one talked about her mother around her.

This wealth didn't add up to her. They had the money to hire four people to look after one baby, and dress that nicely, yet the house seemed quite small to her in reality. There was only three rooms: the living room, the bathroom and the kitchen. She didn't know where his father worked, but he wasn't home often and always came back covered with dirt and dust. Given the military-oriented education the kids were having in this world, she supposed he worked for the army, but she had seen no military insignia except for his headband with the snail-like sign on it. Her mother seemed to work at a café or a restaurant: she had this apron with a logo on it.

Anyway, meeting with her new family made her understand several things. Her father had a rather good position in his clan, but not that good since he was not part of the main family. The main family were all the people with a name beginning with the "Cho" syllable: Chodai the clan leader, Choza his first born and seven-year-old heir to the clan, and Chomaru his last born who seemed to be a three-year-old brat very impressed by her mother. Her own father was Torifu.

"So this is your child." an old woman said after all the greetings. "She looks like her mother"

Honoka was quite sure they didn't like either she or her mother. Or it might only be the old woman who gave her this impression. Akiye, seemed to be her name, and she was all about blood purity and whatsoever. She was the mother of Chodai-Sama. From what Honoka had gathered, this woman ranked people depending on their family: you were at the top if you were an Akimichi, you were slightly below if you were a Nara or a Yamanaka (whoever these people could be), you were even below if you were a shinobi from another clan, even lesser if you were from a small clan, like dirt if you were a civilian and more than dirt if you were a stranger. As for her mother, she couldn't tell if it was the latter or not, since she was an employee of the clan and a civilian.

This was what Honoka had gathered, though the old crow was grumbling too much for her to understand properly. And she still had to make some progress on her comprehension of the local language, even though she had gotten much better at it. Speaking it was still out of question, the syllables were still problematic to her. Seriously, why were there so much combinations of syllables possible? She couldn't possibly understand that! And she dreaded the time she would have to start learning how to read and write.

And they said French was a difficult language to learn! Bullshit! Well at least she could learn much faster thanks to her baby brain. Oh that memory of hers, so skilled! She wished she could make a full use of it quickly!

Anyway, she had been formerly introduced to her new family, and most people in it didn't like her much. Actually their concern was about Honoka's weight and facial structure: she wasn't round enough to them! And that bothered her a lot! Eating to grow faster, yes, but she had her limits! Plus, what was with all this food worship they had! It was insane! They had been talking all day around the same meal which started at 11am and barely finished at 5pm. Seriously, what was that!

"Some say that Senjuu Nawaki's team is taking care of your child." someone said then. "How is that?"

Honoka frowned, trying to get what this was about. Nawaki's family name was Senjuu. Was it such a big deal? They didn't talk about his teacher, but about him directly.

"Danzo-San helped us." her father explained with a strange tone. Honoka couldn't tell if it was embarassment or pleasure.

"We will be forever grateful for his help" her mother said, her brow almost touching the ground.

"I heard he spoke highly of your daughter's intelligence." Chodai-Sama agreed.

There it was. Honoka guessed that was why she was led here even with her mother's status. She wasn't entirely of the main house, and they might not give her the clan's name now, but they would keep her around. The problem was that her sensibility to their _magical energy_ remained, and she could tell the people in the room were restraining themselves. Not the children of course, but the adults were. She could brush their general _aura_ if she focused enough but couldn't distinguish them. It was still too hard and that skill didn't seem vital at the time to her.

But once or twice as she brushed them, opening herself to their energy around, she felt the gazes of people locking onto her. They drifted to Torifu and Suki and locked onto her. They knew she was feeling them.

After this meeting, it was decided she would be kept from time to time with the second son of the clan head by Akimichi Akiye, which meant a great honour to their family. Her mother would take her on mornings and drop her with the old crow as she was going to work. This lady despised her mother so much! She heard her mean tone when she was talking to her mother. She heard her sugary coated-words when she was coaxing Chomaru. Honoka learned that it was because of her mother's origins. Suki was a civilian from wind country that her father's team had rescued during the war. Well, more than rescued since Suki walked all the way from her village to Konoha with a baby in her belly.

Honoka was unhappy with this situation. Her mother was the bravest woman she knew: a civilian who marched through the battlefield to find the father of her child. Akiye was just an old woman jealous of her mother's beauty and courage. Honoka'd show these people what it meant to mess with her family! Besides, she needed to work these flappy muscles of hers! They wouldn't see what was coming. And besides, she was just a baby, wasn't she, they had to expect her to do stuff like that. She trained her body a lot to get even faster when crowling on her belly, and later on her hands and knees.

But Akiye was fast, really fast. She had such fine reflexes for an old lady! It was really hard for her to wander around too far. Nevertheless, Honoka would always be more imaginative with her pranks. Once she painted the entire side of a closet with poop. Once she spayed her food with the spoon and got mashed veggies and soup on the ceiling. Once she vomited all over the white sheets of the bed she was napping on with Chomaru.

"You won't get away with this, Honoka-Chan." Akiye would say and punish her.

"Of course, Akiye-Sama" she would reply with a smile, because she knew who had to clean up her mess.

Apparently she was supposed to say Whatshisname-Sama when she was supposed to respect the person greatly, and Whatshisname-Kun when they were closer in age or equals. Akiye called her Honoka-Chan, and so did everyone else, even Chomaru. She didn't care yet. She would probably add the particles later, because showing respect to someone could be very valuable. Showering them with love and respect was the best. Honoka was rewarded with a sunny smile when she called her favourite brat "Nawaki-Onii-Chan".

People were often easy to figure out. They liked being pleased by people. They liked to talk about themselves and have people care about them with gifts and favours. If someone tells something, the best position is the listener because you can act as a confident, a trusted person. But also you learn new things about that person. So you kill two birds with one stone: you get trusted as a good listener, and you get all the weapons you need to get back at this person if needed. So these marks of respect, she would use them when the time comes.

Anyway, not being able to speak was still a problem since she wouldn't be able to get under Akiye's skin properly. The old lady had figured out she was doing all this mischief on purpose and she had retaliated. She had started using _magic_ on her. She never told Honoka's parents about it, and nobody could see what she was doing. She was using just the right dose to make her skin crawl and made her cry.

But Chomaru soon understood that Honoka was getting hurt by Akiye, even if he couldn't figure out how or why. At the beginning of the pranks, he used to tumble on his chubby legs and call the old lady for her to see the ruckus she had caused. He understood that Honoka wasn't crying because she was scared or sorry about her pranks, she cried because she was hurt.

And damn it hurt so much! She could feel all the needles pricking her skin, all these invisible needles, likes waved of pain rolling in her body. But Honoka soon stopped to faint and understood two things. One: she had been right about this mindset thing, and accepting that magic was real and normal in this world helped her greatly. Two: the more she gritted Akiye's nerves, the more she'll get used to this magic until it would stop hurting.

But it still hurt so damn much!

* * *

 _Here you go my little readers._

 _I hope you enjoyed it. Please shower me with love and reviews like Honoka does with the world !_

About my personal projects : _I made a short movie called Morituri te Salutant, about Bridget Jones. I don't like it, beause the project was kinda dumped on me and I had zero people working like me were great, but it was a challenge the school were giving us. We tried to go realistic, but we had zero money. But I learned to manage a team of 20ish people and how to make a movie from the beginning to the end, so it was worth it.  
_

 _I also did cool stuff like I went to Cannes to shoot short documentaries about TV dramas (I still have to edit the videos, and it takes me so long to do it...).This other project is called Serial Mippers, and you can find us on facebook and WordPress. I just got back from it actually, and it's one of the most exhausting experience I did. But I got to meet people from all around the world and I loved it.  
_


	9. 10 to 12 month

_Hello everyone,_

I'm trying to publish at least 2000 word chapters with a regular schedule on this story. Wish me luck with that ^^

A few questions I'd like to answer:

 **Since you're changing the story, will the Kannabi Bridge still happen?** Yes the Kannabi Bridge will still happen. And Obito will still "die".

 **Minato died at 24 during the Kyuubi attack and Kakashi was 13 at the time of Gaiden, meaning about 14 during the attack.** Correct, though I'll probably make Minato and Kushina a bit younger (people tend to have children early, and they have fallen in love since they were 13)

 **Please, please have Orochimaru be the good guy! Currently I am really into Sakumo x Orochimaru stories. But even if you don't do male pairings. I really want to see him as a good guy. Wasn't he Nawakis teacher?** He won't be a "ggod guy" per see, but he'll behave more or less since he'll have some nice ties with Honoka, but I can't tell more. As for being Nawaki's teacher, I don't think he was. He just send him to the war. I didn't know about this pairing, however Sakumo in y story is straight, and so is Orochimaru, so no bonding between these two.

* * *

10 to 12 month

Bless the people who invented furniture! Now that she could change positions at will, albeit slowly, she could push herself on her butt wherever she wanted (using some clothes to go faster on the hard floorboard). When it was too hard she could lift herself up on her wobbly legs and "walk" the last herters.

As a bonus, she could always steal some on Akiye's shawl to work on the ground. With a little twist of chakra, she could glide on the ground with ease. She had worked how to use a little bit of her own energy. It didn't burn as much as when others used it.

Well the old crow would always get her revenge afterwards. She always did. Hopefully Honoka had learned how to fall. And she still had the near four-years-old Chomaru to have her back. He seemed the happiest kid ever to help her stand on her wobbly legs, or be her new horse.

She missed Nawaki, though. The teenager was easier to work with, for he had more experience. She wondered where he went. There seemed to be troubles in the country, but no one dared to speak of it near the kids. Honoka understood. Chomaru was that kind of child who liked to repeat all he heard, but he wouldn't be of any help if the adults refused to say anything around him.

Then came the translation of what he was saying. It was hard to have him explain the situations with 3-word sentences when he had just come to understand the notions of "tall" and "little". But it became very useful to keep watch on Akiye's movements. Her only problem was to reward the little guy. She could do even less than he did, because she was still fumbling with all the syllables. But it was getting manageable.

Honoka thought there was something fishy going on around her mother. She seemed happy and unhappy to have her daughter taught with the second son of the clan. Not everyone had the opportunity, right? Plus, Nawaki seemed like an important figure or maybe he had an important family or whatever? Yet, here she was, daughter of a Wind Country immigrant and a father of the low branch of the Akimichi clan. How did she get to that position?

This position seemed interesting to keep for now. How should she keep it? Being friends with Chomaru would only do the trick for the beginning. He was a whiney kid. They'll just stuff him with candies then he will forget all about her. she was nothing. She was worth nothing.

Question was: how could she get a price tag on her back in this world?

She didn't solve this riddle right away. In the way most secrets people kept with a plastered smile, this one was intricated, layered. Actually, this secret contained a great amount of this man named Danzô. He was the one who got Senju Nawaki and his teammates to take care of her. He was a family friend. It seemed that he and her father fought together in a war, another war than the one occurring right now. People never seemed to stop fighting in this village. She wished she knew why.

Her mother just started dressing her nicely one morning. More nicely that when she went to Akimichi Akiye's house. Baby clothes were a language of their own it seems. Nice kimonos that were impractical to move with were for the Akimichi clan. Nice simple dresses with mesh shirts and lots of pockets were not.

She was led to a nice restaurant or café where her mother worked. She wasn't 1 yet, but Summer was coming around, darkening her mother's skin to a pretty gold. Honoka's birthday was due somewhere in July. Kami only knew when.

That day, though, was due to something else. It started with "look at my cute little baby", and she was then exposed in a high chair for everyone to see. It's not that Riho Suki was a good mother. Honoka would be unable to grade her. However, she was a show-off. There was a reputation to keep. Why it was so important to do it was at work escaped her totally.

That day went on with Suki continuously checking on her daughter, at an alarming rate at that. She seemed stressed by something. She was almost on her knees by midday. She was having so much troubles her manager, an Akimichi, had to ask her if she wanted to go home. She refused.

Then, when all the costumers were gone and the restaurant about to close until dinner time, a man came in. The one who had glared at her and showed her parents how they could behave around her. The one that made her parents angry at each other for whatever reason.

No one told him the kitchen were closed. He seemed like a man nobody said "no".

And Suki smiled bright.

"Danzo-Sama!" she greeted. "I wasn't expecting you."

A cold silence met with her sentence. I saw her hands twitch with nervousness. She had no idea what to say to this man.

"You have already met Honoka." Suki said.

His grey eyes shifted on her and paused. Honoka straightened her spine under his glare. Her eyes grew cold. She never liked being glared at. Just like the first time, she swore she saw a light through his eyes, but it died too fast to be sure.

"She looks her age." he said at last.

It felt like the words strained him. In fact, it almost sounded like a disappointment to her. Honoka puffed her cheeks in annoyance and crossed her arms. She was sorry she couldn't meet his expectations.

You could have sliced a hair in two with the razor-smirk he gave her. Shivers went on Honoka's back. Who was that man? That Danzo guy had power. Did her mother want that? Was this why she behaved so strangely? Honoka couldn't tell.

"Behave, girl. Do what is asked of you."

Though she was still shaking, Honoka had the strength to raise a brow at that. What was expected of her exactly? This man seemed very authoritative. She had always had troubles with that type of person. Although, she might need to keep her temper in check. In this world, violence was prompt.

"I'm glad you like her." her mother said.

"I asked favours for that child. I ought to know she's worth it."

"You know she is. Her father is a great man."

"He is."

Honoka was confused. Why was her mother so happy with such a sinister man around? Why would he asked favours for her when this was their second meeting?

Suki waltzed her out of her chair to hold her on her hip. She was warm. Did she smell like perfume? This one smelled expensive. It was a tad bit too spicy for her. It suited her mother and it didn't at the same time. This Danzô folk must have been even more of a big gun than she ever thought.

They sat around one of the tables. There was this vibe in the air, she could almost touch it. It was… lukewarm. As if there was one tiny path to walk to avoid the wrong answers. This man seemed hard to please. He threw one or two sentences about paperwork keeping him busy and promising ninjas. Honoka was surprised her mother knew enough to give him meaningful answers in exchange. In comparison with the boisterous Torifu, this man was withdrawn. Yet, the conversation seemed fuller despite the long silences filling it.

Once or twice, she saw the man examining her. Honoka had this urge to put down her baby fork and sit straight when he did so. She didn't _see_ every time he observed her, but she could feel a shift inside of him. As if the energy that made him changed of shape. He was keeping it low for her comfort. But when he looked at her, it went up, like a flame. It was a fire, but a gentle one, one that didn't burn her. Maybe it would have hurt a few months ago. But Honoka dared Akimichi Akiye and paid the price for her arrogance and build a resistance to this world magic.

"The girl has grown well." Danzô said. "I'll schedule another visit to the Hyuuga for her development."

Her mother bowed to Danzô and thanked. Silence stretched, long and nerve-wracking. The man thanked for his meal and stood. His gaze stopped at Honoka, and she felt his energy shapeshifting again. His face showed no emotion, but she definitely felt his energy move. He must have shown something because Suki smiled brightly at him. He deadpanned in answer.

"Would you like to hold her?" Suki asked warmly.

Danzô deadpanned at the woman, as if it was the most incongruous idea he ever received. Honoka cocked her head to the side. She quite like hugging. She had become a hugging whore lately. It probably had to do with the steps of her development. Plus, it seemed to please her mother, and she grew quite attached to her.

The man was hesitating. Huh, he probably was a tough client. He was resisting Riho Suki, the woman before any living man drooled or shyly stuttered. But this man seemed unable to have this range of emotions. Hell, even a genuine smile would look out of place on his face. But if he could resist my mother's charms, maybe was he sensitive to a baby's appeal.

I made the smile and doe-like eyes I trained to do in front of the mirror. Most of adults would turn into a pile of goo before that kind of face. Even Akiye did it, and she was an evil witch. Danzô flinched before her and went for my head. My victory was short-lived, for he looked at her with calculating eyes.

"You will have an interesting future." he said.

She was unsure of what it meant. Maybe he meant politics. He seemed to deal a lot with it.

Her mother was cheery when they got back home. She was humming an old song when cleaning up the house and making meals. She was bouncing on her feet. She didn't seem to get that much of the man, though. He seemed like a hard nut to crack. However, it looked like some serious work to wrap such a man around her fingers. She was probably using Honoka as a bait, since the man had an odd interest in her.

The girl was fine with that. As long as she could use the network her mother build on her behalf later.

Although, she would have preferred a day with Chomaru. Speaking of an important person to sway her way, having the second son of the Akimichi clan work for her seemed ideal. From what she understood from Akiye's lessons to her little prince, their clan was the third strongest clan in Konoha, behind the Hyuuga and Uchiha who fought for the first place. The Akimichi strength was trade. Every food trade was Akimichi. Plus, they had two main vassals: the Nara clan, and the Yamanaka clan.

These two clans acted like support, though they didn't possess the physical strength of the Akimichi. The Nara were fine strategists, and they did research and manufactured medicine. The Yamanaka clan was more suited for reconnaissance and interrogation work. These clans could only grow thanks to the support of their liege clan.

A day without the 4-years old was fine, but Honoka would prefer to know beforehand.

"Mama, why no Chomaru?" she asked.

Her mother went on her knees with a sigh and looked at her.

"You should have spoken before him. He would have like that."

"Grumpy man?" Honoka asked to be sure.

"Don't call him that."

There was something passive-aggressive in her mother's behaviour, but she didn't know what. Well, was it that important to look so much interesting in that Danzô's eyes? Shouldn't she be seducing other people, like the Akimichi clan leaders or something?

The days went again, then the weeks and the months. They send her to the long-haired doctor again, and he prodded several parts of her body, injecting energy. Her "chakra sensibility" was still there, but it wasn't life-threatening anymore. The good news didn't make that Danzô man come to them, though. Her mother wanted something from him, but what?

* * *

 _reviews are love (an opium)  
_

 _Give me my fix_


End file.
